Beer Jug NPT Nano!

This is a 1/2 gallon Carolina Brewery Beer Jug. It's a Naturally Planted Tank filled with oscomote pellets and dry ferts then my prepared dirt, then the leftover sand that I had from my old 40 Gallon Breeder (I didn't have any other sand and I wanted to make this ASAP.) and a couple stalks of anacharis with one stalk of Najas Grass (grows like a weed... well, it IS considered a noxious weed!) with one small java fern tied to a tiny piece of driftwood (You cant see it. It's just there as a weight.) At some point I'd love to put in some flexible dried twigs or something but the opening is pretty tiny so I don't know if I can.

Anyway, about 12-13 RCS are in it along with 3 baby Ramshorn snails. There's dried MTS in the sand left over from the 40G and they should come back. The light is the secondhand... er... secondlight? Secondary light? Bylight? from the Beverage Dispenser. I'm not sure if that will work or if I'll have to find an alternate light but I'm trying it anyway. I took about 1/2 of old tank water from the RCS and 1/2 fresh water from their usual source so I'm hoping they're not going to die like my dispenser did...

Last night, I met something unexpected: a rising water level. You can see the level in the neck that it was at in the beginning and it was at the very lip with the Ramshorns hanging out there. I noticed them staying there and that's why I was thinking it wasn't getting enough oxygen exchange so I was going to lower the water level to create more water surface for oxygen exchange.

I have no explanation, either. The only possible thing I can think of is I put in a piece of boiled calcium that they use for birds in there as well as my other tanks. Nothing else could have made the water level rise.

I'm definitely not mistaken. It overspilled when I put the hose in to take out a little bit of the water. I'm going to be using a dry erase marker to see if the level rises again or not. It took a couple of days for it to fully rise, so we'll see in a couple of days, maybe...

Last night, I met something unexpected: a rising water level. You can see the level in the neck that it was at in the beginning and it was at the very lip with the Ramshorns hanging out there. I noticed them staying there and that's why I was thinking it wasn't getting enough oxygen exchange so I was going to lower the water level to create more water surface for oxygen exchange.

I have no explanation, either. The only possible thing I can think of is I put in a piece of boiled calcium that they use for birds in there as well as my other tanks. Nothing else could have made the water level rise.

I'm definitely not mistaken. It overspilled when I put the hose in to take out a little bit of the water. I'm going to be using a dry erase marker to see if the level rises again or not. It took a couple of days for it to fully rise, so we'll see in a couple of days, maybe...

Perhaps a temperature change causing the container to contract/water to expand? Maybe watch and see if the water level rises and falls depending on the time of day/room temperature.

Gotta' admit, I've been tempted to try one of these--but I prefer at least some livestock, even if only snails, in all my planted vases and the low surface available for gas exchange (or air movement to facilitate it) knocked them off my project list for the time being.

Perhaps a temperature change causing the container to contract/water to expand? Maybe watch and see if the water level rises and falls depending on the time of day/room temperature.

It wasn't that. It stays at room temperature most of the time. It was the gases forming inside the dirt layer that was causing the level to rise. I poked the substrate with a thin stick (read: bent wire clothes hanger) and it released bubbles of gases.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knotyoureality

Gotta' admit, I've been tempted to try one of these--but I prefer at least some livestock, even if only snails, in all my planted vases and the low surface available for gas exchange (or air movement to facilitate it) knocked them off my project list for the time being.

As I said before, I noticed the snails kept hanging at the top so I did lower the water level and now the snails haven't been hanging out at the top since I lowered it so I suppose it's working now. Here's the current level -

The Najas has definitely doubled in size and reached the top, so I guess my worries about the secondary light not being enough were unfounded. Still, I'd like something to light it up to show it off. The Anacharis doesn't really seem to have grown as much. At the rate that I know Najas grows, I'm going to have to figure out how to trim the plants from the tiny neck somehow when needed. I don't want the Najas to completely take over.

The three Ramshorns died an hour after I released the gases from the dirt as did four RCS. I had done a water change right after I poked the substrate but I guess that wasn't enough. I've since done another water change and added a few more RCS.

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